Giselle's HoS application, first time Probably Is Not The Charm
#1
Heart 
Usual character name: Security wise, Giselle Blanchette.
BYOND username: Laugoose
Discord username (if you are on our discord): laugoose
Recommended by (if applicable): N/A (i think)
Goon servers you play: 3/4

Reason for application:
I told myself as soon as I stop getting yelled at by my superiors and have my actions commended, give more orders than I receive, and generally have a blast acting in command, I'd apply for Head of Security. Here I am. I would like to (and have, hopefully, proven I am capable of) act in command, have the authority to back it up past my own voice, as well as be able to directly root out the bad apples within my own department and be a comfort to newer players (as HoSes are usually quite intimidating, which is important but not always needed!). It's also just a cool role, one I think I'd be suitable for, and one that comes with even more roleplay experiences I'd adore.

Security experience (300 word minimum): I have been playing security for a while now- I would like to say five to six months. It's my favourite role on the statistics, too- I've played a LOT of it in a short time. I have the worst sleep schedule known to mankind (and live in the BLIGHTY), and so often skulk about in low population servers, however once it gets TOO LOW I switch back to high. Playing security has been a blast; I've learnt so much, almost akin to fighting games, and have had so much fun with the unique roleplay experiences I've genuinely laughed too hard. I've had great, aura farming moments and absolutely hilarious moments of pure stupidity that leaves the station looking quite akin to the space around it, and I wouldn't change any of them a single way. I enjoy following orders but I much prefer giving them, though I do not shy away from asking questions. Recently, I've begun to demonstrate my own Security knowledge via training, and having newer players shadow me. Despite the work, however, I have always kept up with the roleplay side of things; I provide whimsy through my patrols when nothing is going on as well as doing quick, easily stoppable bits to keep myself entertained such as goading a Medical Doctor into fighting me and then kind of cheating, refusing to believe clowns exist and never letting up, and making Coffee Cake for Security via conversation between Botany and the Kitchen. I really enjoy bringing order to chaos, but I thrive in both and I love watching people in both, too.
One thing I know I’m good at is learning quick. I think every single mistake I have made in Security has been made once and never again, and I have built up an understanding around the culture of security and am capable of intervening in situations I don’t think are right or taking command myself. A lot of my recent rounds have been solosec, and I have managed to sometimes command the crew to take action or work together against threats, but also stand down especially near the start of rounds to stop antagonists from being turned into a stain on the carpet too quickly, since that’s fun for nobody! I revel in letting an antagonist go with a slap on the wrist and equipment taken, because I just KNOW they’re going to come right back and it’s super fun trying to guess how. Additionally, executions are usually public, and although it’s never great, I am ready to beat a relentless antagonist to death if the situation calls for it. I wouldn’t call myself bloodthirsty, but I’m definitely blood-prepared, if that makes sense.




Answer two or more of the following:
What advice would you give to other sec players?
My first piece of advice is most definitely to ask questions and be communicative. It’s so important to keep people in the know, and even small things can become big deals later on. Marking people as suspect or asking people to mark them as suspect is important, and even if you can’t do it, someone else almost definitely can.
Another piece of advice would be to never forget that you’re roleplaying. It’s sometimes weird seeing other security almost dip out of their characters during a game, and although it isn’t too important, going around the station and reacting to other people’s insanity or having rounds truly affect them is super important. Let people know their actions have an effect, even on the gruffly security team that seem to be stoic! Nobody likes it when you do something and it whooshes by completely unrecognised.


Describe any differences in your playstyle when part of a full security team and when being the only security officer.
Usually, my sole secoff games involve the captain either being inexperienced or super duper experienced. Either way, I’ll patrol almost all the time, careful to ask for people’s situation reports and being sure to stop people from getting TOO bored. If I find an antagonist, I’ll be sure to not be too harsh on them the first time (so long as it’s early and the crime is light) because they are the beacons of hope in sometimes quite stale games. Anything involving antagonists should be public, like chases or executions, because then other people can interact. Pulling bloodthirsty staff assistants off of detained antagonists is super fun and playing a role of order, which I super enjoy, and public executions are amazing roleplaying opportunities between everyone involved, no matter what. I don’t think there’s a better way for an antagonist to go out aside from an awesome monologue followed by –GRUUUGHHH… and a deathgasp, especially when EVERYONE can see it. I love stuff like that so much.
In a full group, it’s much more hectic and much bigger. I’ll usually stick to patrolling, responding to alerts and interacting with people, trying to add my two cents and co-ordinate people where possible- though usually, as a secoff, it’s quite an automatic process. People have been listening to me recently much more, which is great, and lately without an HoS (and also usually with one) I stick to my guns with giving orders where I can and make sure to ask permission for things I’m not too sure about. Everyone gets their own turn to help Security’s reputation, and I work hard on that too, usually solving disputes between people or interacting wholeheartedly between insane chases across maintenance.
I’ve had some AWESOME experiences on both, but definitely more on Lowpop, between winning against a samurai with one hand left or being blown up by a TTV I didn’t even know about because of another antagonist with a C-Sabre stopping me from checking comms.


Answer one or more of the following fun questions (because it's important for the HoS to be fun):
Write a poem to convey your thoughts on security/NanoTrasen/space/bees/anything related to SS13.

Though the baton’s strong,
The truth about victory?
It’s following fun.

Previous bans (while this will not affect your application lying about it will): No bans!

Thank you for taking the time to read! I'd really appreciate your comments, it'd help so so much.
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#2
I haven't been on any shifts with Goose on command, but I have been with the on a few security details now and I can say that they are a great officer to be partnered with! They take their duties seriously while still being entertaining to fight along side. They make sure that everyones having a good time and is doing their job correctly. I could definitely recommend them for a promotion!
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#3
General thoughts:
I have tried to keep an eye on you when i can, and while i don't have anything very detailed to say i still have some thoughts.

Goose is willing to take new assistants with them and I have seen on multiple occasions Goose talking to new assistants in secmain. From what I have seen they are effective at keeping track of their radio and also engaging with the crew, which I personally value highly in an officer.

Specific Example:
One occasion i would like to note is on a lowpop nadir round where for a good deal of time you were the only officer, and eventually a captain arrived. There was a clown vampire which was killed in an arrest, and after the clown vampire was cloned you attempted to contact the captain for authorization to exile (good stuff respect for the chain of command) the only issue was that the captain was not paying attention to their radio, resulting in the clown getting pulled around the station in cuffs for a good deal of time. I believe this ended with the clown requesting to just be thrown into the acid.

Feedback:
A wise individual told me that while standing by the chain of command is good, it is also good to realize you may need to use your own judgement to get a player back into the game, once its clear you are not getting a response from command.

I also encourage putting yourself forward more in directing security, as it may just be my infrequent observing but i have not seen lots of leadership. I also haven't seen you in command recently but Captain is a really good role for showing that you can be reasonable in positions of power and in leading security from a more background position.

Conclusion:
I am leaning positive on this, I will try to watch and see more later into the application period and will hopefully come back with some more detailed feedback. Keep it up, I am looking forward to seeing more of Officer Blanchette!
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#4
Hello!

Thank you for this! That's a very important thing to let me know about, and I appreciate it. That round was a tough one, because Giselle has clown disbelief and the vampire clown was absolutely wreaking havoc with nobody else to deal with it. I unfortunately had to end up making Giselle "Fire at the clown mark on her HUD" whilst someone else in the know tried to strip the uniform. It was messy for sure lol. I appreciate the comment on making your own decisions, and I think the idea that making those harsh choices not just in times of stress but also game boringness is a super important tip I'll be sure to incorporate. I will also play more captain, something I probably need as a break from Secoff for a little. I do try and provide order amongst others in my peers when I can, butit also definitely makes sense if you haven't seen me doing it. I'll keep on keeping on doing what's right, and edit what's a little shakey for sure! I really appreciate your comment.
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#5
I 100% advise you to make sure you are still playing other jobs than just sec, its good to take a break. Oh and I wasn't saying that the clown dying was a bad thing, I didn't really see any issues there was just providing context!
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#6
I don't know if I should reply this much but I just wanted to provide context because that round was quite chaotic and honestly very funny. There isn't much else more saddeningly hilarious than blindly firing at empty tiles until the clown believing assistant can make giselle realise OH THE VAMPIRE IS REAL! i just thought telling the story would be nice hahaha
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#7
In my admittedly brief interactions with Giselle, I've found that the level of role play that you use is very confrontational.

For example, taking the clown disbelief perk is not wrong or bad in itself, but you do tend to lean heavily into calling the crew stupid or idiots for claiming clowns exist. When scolded by higher ups for this Giselle often mutters things under her breath about how they're obviously not going to be punished.

I'm not trying to tell you how you should or should not RP out your clown disbelief, but as a security officer you do hold a lot of power and saying over radio comms that a silicon is broken and needs to be fixed can cause some panic or concern before admitting the reason why is because the silicon believes in clowns. I think there is a time and a place for insults, but you have to be careful before the crew decides that as an officer or head of security, they'd rather see you in a grave than live another ten minutes to insult them again.
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#8
I think you understand the technical side well. You have a grasp of mechanics and tend to respond to escalation appropriately.

I feel you play your character in a very gruff and confrontational way, which if course ie fine but tye frequent insulting argunents over your clown disbelief perk could lead to confusion or upset with little gained.

To go to the security side more then just then regular crew interadtions; it bares mention to remind this as i sometimes have to do to myself, security doesn't need to "win" it needs to oppose. Nobody wins in ss13 but people can be made to feel they losem

Keep trying and learning, best of luck, truly.
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#9
i really value this feedback; i've been trying to write/play giselle as a character that's almost disenchanted with a lot of things, leading to her being polite and forward, but behind the scenes a little over all of it. as such, i try and make her friendly and approachable in all contexts, but with a little bit of annoyance behind her words. clown disbelief is fun because it makes a boring round have a very clear conversational point that things can go off of, but i know which round nerkson is talking about and that was, i can agree, a little too forward. i wanted to get conversations going, and the only way to rekindle it was to have that edge on it if that makes sense? either way, i get the issue with confusion. in rounds where clarity are a necessity, my clown disbelief aspect is often either tossed out the window (like giselle going "the clown gets two minutes for that. hypothetically.") or used as a single throwaway line amongst other information. i try not to clog up important comms with minor repeated characterisation.

the winning/losing stuff i hope i have a grasp on, i think i havent gotten ANGRY at myself in a while for doing things stupidly. i often ask what i could do differently in a situation post-round in the discord, but that's for learning and not for grudging. i learn what to do in that situation and accept that the round went the way it did (often very interestingly!)

thank you for the advice, and thank you for telling me that giselle is a little too gruff/aggressive to people than i'd anticipated. it really helps me sharpen out her character, and make for better interactions!
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#10
I’ve played with Giselle a few times now, both as a fellow officer and as an antag opposing her.

She’s a communicative and responsive officer. She calls out her intentions and is usually the first on the scene when I ask for backup. I second what Paladin said in that I see she has a good grasp of the technical part of being an officer. She’s robust enough that I feel good having her with me when I’m confronting violence. I also appreciate that she’s eager for feedback and will discuss what she did wrong or right openly.

There is a part of her play that I think needs improvement and that’s how she handles antagonists and escalating with them. Several times now that I’ve been an antagonist, she’s done some helicoptering where she will follow me around, even if I’ve been processed or I’m not actively criming. This makes it hard to escalate or to carry on.

One time in particular, I was a gang leader at my locker. I had only spawned in a med kit and I did not have an active warrant and I had been processed once. She had already been following me quite a bit. I had a gun hidden that I intended to point at the Medical Director for firing me, but she hung around so long that I just decided to unload the clip on her because I got tired of waiting for her to leave.

It’s important to consider antag play as an officer. You may feel in your gut or know in some other meta way that someone is up to no good but you have to stifle the urge to entrap them. My general rule is that if you don’t have direct evidence to book someone on, you should carry on. As a SecMain who has been this way in the past, the remedy is usually just to play more shifts as an antag so you can appreciate good shift-shepherding.
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#11
thank you for the feedback! i think i remember that round, if that was the tommy gun 60 round engagement i was hanging around the MD because they had reported you carrying a massive gun, so i stayed and tried to talk to you about it if i remember correctly, and then got shot and died. i think that was the only time that i had been shot by you, but i could be misremembering! you might be onto something about helicoptering around antags but i want to make it clear that it's never intentional, but might be just me hanging around (especially in lowpop rounds like that) the INTERESTING aspects of the station. you and sachie had a great back and forth that whole round, and while patrolling and nothing else was happening i definitely tried to observe your roleplaying, but i don't think (and hope) i never went out of my way to breathe down your neck in order to gain an arrest. i generally try and stick to patrolling, and talking with everyone is an aspect of that, so apologies if i did hover around you for too long, intentionally or not.
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